Battlefield 3 ‘not going to look as good’ as a high-end PC on PlayStation 3 according to DICE
DICE, the developers behind Electronic Arts’ best-selling game of all time, Battlefield 3, have come forward and stated that console version of the games are not going to look as good as their high-end PC counterparts.
While this is nothing unexpected, seeing how DICE claimed all along that the modern military first-person shooter was designed with PCs as its lead platform, there was another twist in the tale as the studio conceded that they had switched from PCs to consoles as their lead platform half way through the production phase.
Before the story and DICE’s words are misinterpreted it would be a wise choice to add some context to the situation.
The current generation of consoles are have reached their maturity stage in their product lifecycle as consumers and developers are both looking forward to what the next generation of video game consoles have to offer. PCs however, have the benefit of being able to be easily, though not always cheaply, upgraded and adapted.
This means that what is happening now was always bound to happen as PCs have overtaken consoles in terms of the output they can provide in terms of memory and graphics.
Karl-Magnus Troedsson, the General Manager at DICE, explained, “In the case of the PS3 (PlayStation 3)...I understand that if you compare it to a high-end PC, it’s not going to look as good.”
It was a bold statement from the GM however he also pointed out that the game would deliver more than other games on the console at the same time, “But if you compare it to the other game on the PS3, including other games we’ve (DICE) done previously, I have to say I’m very happy with how it looks.”
The General Manager also admitted that DICE had to switch the lead platform for the game’s development from PCs to consoles in order to stay on schedule and ensure that the game was met the release deadline set by its publisher:
“We said originally that the PC was the lead SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) of the game, but in mid-production we switched to console as lead platform to make sure we could get all the versions done for release.”
DICE had been under fire from console gamers who believed that they were getting the short end of the stick with an inferior, trimmed version of the game as compared to PC gamers. However, both the developer and the publisher, EA, came out and stated that they were merely optimising it to keep it within the limits of each system; a statement which Troedsson reiterated when he said, "Our ambition at DICE is to use the power of each individual platform to get the most out of the game.”
So far it seems that gamers are satisfied with Battlefield 3 as it is selling in huge numbers since its release.
Tags: